[06/04/09 - 10:42 AM]Standing as the Most-Watched TV Show in the 8pm Hour, ABC's "Wipeout" Also Wins Its Slot for the 2nd Straight Week with Key Men and Teens 12-17ABC spins the numbers for Wednesday, June 3.

[via press release from ABC]

Quick Take for Wednesday, June 3, 2009
(Fast Affiliate Live + Same Day Ratings)

Standing as the Most-Watched TV Show in the 8pm Hour, ABC's "Wipeout" Also Wins its Slot for the 2nd Straight Week with Key Men and Teens 12-17

"Wipeout" is Wednesday's No. 1 TV Show Across All Key Men Demos

"Wipeout" Greatly Improves the Time Period for ABC Year to Year,
Boosting the Hour by 3.2 Million Viewers and by 55% in Adults 18-49

"Wipeout" (8:00-9:00 p.m.)

On just its second airing in its new Wednesday time period, ABC's "Wipeout" (8.4 million) emerged as the most-watched TV show in the 8 o'clock hour, outdrawing original competition including Fox's time-period veteran, "So You Think You Can Dance" (8.2 million), and Night 3 of NBC's "I'm a Celebrity�.Get Me Out of Here" (4.8 million). In fact "Wipeout" towered over NBC's "I'm a Celebrity�," beating the NBC unscripted series by 3.6 million viewers (8.4 million vs. 4.8 million) and by 61% in Adults 18-49 (2.9/9 vs. 1.8/6). For the 2nd week in a row, the broad-appealing ABC unscripted series finished No. 1 in the hour across all key Men demographics (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54) and Teens 12-17. It was also the top-rated broadcast show in the slot with Kids 2-11.

� "Wipeout" was Wednesday's No. 1 TV show with key Men (M18-34/M18-49/M25-54) and Teens.

� "Wipeout" is generating big year-to-year gains for ABC in the hour with viewers and young adults. On average during its first two weeks, "Wipeout" has improved the time period for the Net by 3.2 million viewers (8.5 million vs. 5.3 million) and by 55% in Adults 18-49 (3.1/10 vs. 2.0/6) over its performance on the same nights last year with original programming ("Wife Swap").

A note about increasing DVR penetration and year-to-year rating comparisons: Year-to-year rating comparisons based on the Live + Same Day data stream are distorted by the level of DVR penetration in the Nielsen sample, which has jumped up to 31% currently, from 25% at the same point in 2008. More viewers are watching shows on their own timetables, which may not be reflected in the overnight next day numbers. The only truly valid year-to-year comparison would be one based on the Live + 7 Day metric, once those stats are released by Nielsen.